Three quick thoughts after a rain-filled Friday night where all the Lehigh Valley Conference unbeatens stayed that way …

1. Whitehall looks like the league’s most complete team. I still haven’t seen Easton, Parkland or Emmaus yet this season. Based on what I have seen and the statistics I receive from all the league’s teams, I don’t think anyone has played offense and defense as well as Whitehall this year.

The Zephyrs were outstanding both ways in rolling past Liberty 35-12 on Friday. They have an experienced offensive line and a punishing stable of running backs that have allowed them to move the ball against all of their opponents. Their defense has yet to allow more than 14 points in a game.

Whitehall has another tough game next week against Easton, but it has all the makings of a team that could play deep into November.

2. Northampton’s start has grown ugly. The Konkrete Kids again scuffled on offense Friday, getting shut out 32-0 by Central Catholic. They have scored just 13 points in their three LVC games and have been unable to run the ball with any consistency.

Northampton has a rough second-half schedule that includes games against Parkland, Whitehall and Nazareth. The Kids’ chances for a turnaround look slim.

3. Week 5 could be separation time in the league. Three big matchups loom – Liberty at Parkland (with fullback Rob Dvoracek, left) and Easton at Whitehall on Friday, and Nazareth at Central Catholic on Saturday. Liberty, Easton and Central Catholic are all 2-2, so they need to win next week to avoid taking a losing record into the second half of their schedule. Whitehall and Nazareth, meanwhile, both have a chance to finish the first half unbeaten.

Next week could provide clarity for the league title race or muddy matters even more.

Northwestern at Southern Lehigh: The Tigers really haven’t been tested in the first three weeks. They will be Friday night. The Spartans will not start in a 14-0 hole. They likely will be playing this one like a playoff game, because they need to reverse their fortunes in close games.

Southern Lehigh 21-14.

Saucon Valley at Palmerton: The Panthers didn’t produce a point last week after some promising offense the first two weeks. The Blue Bombers have scored with some regularity. I think there will be plenty of points on both sides tonight… just like last year.

Palmerton 32-27.

Pen Argyl at Wilson: Perhaps a rivalry game can provide inspiration for the Warriors, particularly on defense. The Green Knights can’t get caught looking ahead to Southern Lehigh and Northern Lehigh in the next two weeks.

Pen Argyl 41-20.

Palisades at Northern Lehigh: You keep waiting for the Bulldogs to play flat for a half or so, but their focus has been so good the last couple of years.

Northern Lehigh 34-12.

Salisbury at Catasauqua: The Falcons competed for four quarters last week and will try to build on that momentum. The Rough Riders need to keep getting big plays from their athletic offensive skill players.

Catasauqua 27-13.

Bangor at Notre Dame-GP: If there was a time for a hangover for the Slaters, it’s this week. They are coming off a big confidence-boosting win over long-time nemesis Southern Lehigh. They are traveling to Notre Dame, which played one of its better games of 2010 against Bangor. This one won’t be a picnic.

Bangor 27-7.

Notes: With an eye on the future, North Schuylkill takes a 22-game regular-season winning streak into Friday night’s game against host Schuylkill Haven. The Spartans have outscored their first three opponents 143-19, including last week’s 67-13 romp over youthful Jim Thorpe. … Northern Lehigh has won 14 consecutive regular-season games since a 21-7 home loss to Catasauqua in Week 9 of 2009. … Pen Argyl has won 14 of its last 15 Colonial League games, dropping only a game at Northern Lehigh in Week 6 of last year. … The last time there wasn’t an unbeaten regular-season champion in the Colonial League was 2007, when Palisades (8-2) had the best mark.

Central Catholic linebacker Teddy Airoldi (above) will not play this week against Northampton after sustaining a lower leg injury against Bethlehem Catholic on Saturday. Vikings coach Harold Fairclough said he did not know how long they would be without Airoldi, who has the team's only interception and sack this season. Airoldi injured himself while making that interception with a diving grab to end the third quarter against the Golden Hawks.

Another injured starter, sophomore center Angelo Lucci, will miss a third straight game this week but is making progress while rehabbing from the leg injury he sustained before the Freedom game in Week 2. Fairclough said Lucci would start participating in conditioning and light drills at practice Thursday. The Vikings hope to have him back for next week's Saturday night showdown with Nazareth.

Whitehall will again be without defensive back Malcolm Guya, who has missed the entire season since having offseason knee surgery. Zephyrs coach Tony Trisciani said a couple of weeks ago he hoped to have Guya back for this week's game against Liberty, but Guya still hadn't returned to practice as of Tuesday.

Easton will be a bit shorthanded, as 2-3 starters could miss Friday's home game against Parkland. Red Rovers coach Steve Shiffert is prohibited from talking about injuries by school policy, so we don't know which starters will be sidelined.

Liberty coach Dave Brown and Parkland coach Jim Morgans both said all their key players would be on the field Friday.

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Below you will find this week's installment of the Pennsylvania high school football notebook compiled by the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

Hopewell senior Rushel Shell rushed for 366 yards last week and needs just 135 yards tonight to break the WPIAL (District 7) career rushing record set by Fort Cherry’s Mike Vernillo in 1999.

Shell also scored six touchdowns against Moon. Friday’s opponent is Mt. Lebanon, which held him to 138 yards a year ago.

DISTRICT 11

* Nazareth surrendered more than 540 yards of total offense for a second straight week, but again overcame a double-digit second-half deficit to stay unbeaten. Blue Eagles senior quarterback Daniel Harding (above) found Dan Shepherd for a game-winning two-point conversion with 38 seconds to play to lift Nazareth to a 42-41 win over Liberty. Harding has already thrown for 994 yards and 10 touchdowns with just one interception.

* Allentown Central Catholic senior wide receiver Kevin Gulyas became District 11’s all-time leader in receptions with his 11-catch, 162-yard effort in a 52-14 win over Bethlehem Catholic. He now has 147 career catches. Gulyas needs 44 more receiving yards to take over the top spot on the District 11 career receiving yardage list. Kowan Scott, a 2010 Wilson graduate, currently holds the No. 1 spot with 2,602 yards.

* North Schuylkill ran its Anthracite Football League and regular-season winning streak to 22 straight games with its 67-13 victory over Jim Thorpe. The Spartans rolled up 492 yards of offense.

* Mount Carmel intercepted seven passes to set a school record in its 53-20 win over West Perry. Sophomore Mike Gilger, who stands just 5-foot-4, tied a school record with three interceptions.

DISTRICT 2

* Holy Cross has shot out of the gates quickly with its multi-weapon attack, jumping out to big leads on its way to a 2-1 start to the season. Led by quarterback Rob Heyen, running backs Joe Merli and Tyler Hinkley and receiver Louis Gianacopoulos the Crusaders are averaging 28.3 points per game in the first half.

* Lackawanna Trail is also putting teams away very early in games this season. In the first three weeks, the Lions are unbeaten and averaging 27.3 points per game in the first half.

* Wyoming Valley West (3-0) continues to establish itself as one of the elite teams in District 2. Penn State recruit Eugene Lewis is guiding the ship for the Spartans. In a 47-28 win over Pleasant Valley, Lewis ran for 173 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 119 yards and four touchdowns.

* Wilkes-Barre GAR may have found itself another quarterback in its 34-31 loss to Lakeland. With senior Darrell Crawford out because of an undisclosed injury, junior Corey Moore threw for 308 yards and four touchdowns.

DISTRICT 1-12

* Saint Joseph’s Prep was a bit of an unknown quantity going into its Week 3 contest with North Penn, registering wins over a team from Canada and Washington D.C. Prep QB Skyler Mornhinweg, a Penn State recruit, had a huge game with 386 total yards of offense and six touchdowns.

* North Penn hasn’t been 1-2 in five years. The Knights must now face high scoring Central Bucks South — an outfit that has figured out how to play a little defense. CB South is surrendering less than 10 points a game the last two weeks.

* Pennridge, decimated by injuries, yielded only two points to Council Rock South yet lost 2-0. A blocked punt out of the end zone was the difference.

* In winning its past two games, Pittsburgh City League frontrunner Brashear is showing a flair for the dramatic. The Bulls (2-1, 2-0) scored 12 fourth-quarter points in a Week 2 win over University Prep and last week scored all of its points in the final quarter of a 13-10 victory over Allderdice. The kicker: Three of the four fourth-quarter touchdowns Brashear has scored in this stretch are from fumble returns.

DISTRICT 3

* Exeter is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 1998 after Alex Dundore caught three TD passes from Kyle Yocum in a 55-0 win over Upper Moreland. The Eagles, who have allowed just 19 points, meet Reading High this week.

* Unheralded Angel Cruz has led Conrad Weiser to a surprising 3-0 start. He has scored 10 TDs, including four in a 35-21 win last week over Donegal. Cruz’s TDs have come from a fumble return, an interception return, two receptions and six runs from scrimmage.

* Five of the eight teams in Section 1 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League head into league openers this week without a victory: Cedar Crest, Ephrata, Hempfield, McCaskey and Warwick are each 0-3.

* After an opening overtime loss to Governor Mifflin, Wilson has found its stride with back-to-back wins. Wilson owns a 22-game Section 1 winning streak, dating back to 2007.

* Manheim Central defeated Selinsgrove 31-10 in Week 3. It was the third year in a row the Barons and the Seals met. The most memorable game was the 2009 PIAA Class AAA title game, won by the Seals, 10-7. Manheim Central won the rematch 21-20 last year in Manheim. This was the final meeting in the non-league series.

DISTRICT 5-6

* After a down year in which it still reached the District 6 Class A championship game, Bishop McCort appears to be back. The Crimson Crushers, under new coach Kevin Sheridan, haven’t allowed a point all season, outscoring the opposition, 132-0.

* The Hickory-Sharon rivalry escalated to a new level on Friday. The Hornets beat the Tigers 43-7 in what is believed to be the first time the 35-point mercy rule has been enforced against Sharon in program history. With the game in hand and 10:08 to play in the fourth quarter, a tackle along the Hickory sideline turned into a brawl involving players and spectators.

* Mercer and Farrell produced one of the biggest offensive games of the year so far. The Mustangs finished with 461 yards of offense, while the Steelers weren’t far behind with 403. Kyle Mariacher was Mercer’s biggest weapon with 30 carries for 304 yards. Farrell countered with Forrest Wested at quarterback. Wested completed 19 of 27 passes for 303 yards and five touchdowns.

DISTRICT 7

* North Allegheny certainly looked like the defending PIAA Class AAAA defending champion when it beat Upper St. Clair, 28-21, in a game that matched two of the state’s top three teams. North Allegheny (3-0) was ranked second, and USC (2-1) third. A 3-yard TD run by Vinnie Congedo with 2:39 left was the game-winner. USC quarterback Dakota Conwell, a Pitt linebacker recruit, passed for 144 yards, rushed for 138, and scored three touchdowns.

For a second straight week, the Harrisburg Patriot-News state football rankings include no Lehigh Valley Conference teams.

Whitehall and Nazareth, both 3-0, are among the teams to watch in Class 4A. Liberty (with Devon Jones, above), which is 2-1 after losing to Nazareth last week, also is a 4A team to watch. Central Catholic remains a team to watch in Class 3A after collecting its first win of the season last week against Bethlehem Catholic.

The Class 4A top two of Pittsburgh Central Catholic and North Allegheny remained unchanged, while La Salle moved up to No. 3. No new teams entered the 4A Top 10.

The 3A top two of Archbishop Wood and Central Valley also remained the same. Grove City, Hopewell and Montour all moved up one slot to round out the top five after Bishop McDevitt lost last week. McDevitt dropped from No. 3 to No. 6.

Check back in the next day or so for the state-wide high school football notebook, which will feature a few nuggets about District 11 teams.

This is a cyclical thing. A few years ago, the divisions were virtually even in the five weeks of crossovers and Wilson, a South team, was the dominant program.

RANKINGS: No changes in the Harrisburg Patriot-News’ state rankings. Northern Lehigh and Pen Argyl are honorable mentions in Class 2A. Aliquippa remains No. 1. West Catholic, despite losing its third game in a row, slips only from No. 2 to No. 3. North Schuylkill stays at No. 4.

Morning Call Sports Reporters Stephen Miller and Tom Housenick blog about high school and college sports action on and off the field in and around the Lehigh Valley, only at themorningcall.com.

Meet the bloggers

TOM HOUSENICK watches every move Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum makes on the court, laughs at every joke by Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon and watches all the Divisions II and III coaches and players do it for the love of the game. Basketball makes the cold weather season go by fast. Already can’t wait for late February and early March when each possession could result in a season ending or continuing on.

Wrapping up his ninth year at The Morning Call, STEPHEN MILLER is back for year No. 4 on the LVC football beat. He chronicled Central Catholic's state-championship run in 2010, watched Nazareth win its first LVC title in 2011 and saw the league crown tri-champions for the first time in 2012. He has also covered the Phillies, college football and a variety of prep sports while with The Morning Call. To stay updated on the 2013 LVC football season, check out the Varsity blog and follow him on Twitter @mcall_smiller.